Forty-three years ago today – April 24, 1976 – the Kinsmen Club of Mitchell & District was chartered. Along with it, the Kinette Club of Mitchell & District was formed.

After the dissolution of the Kinsmen a couple of years back, a lack of members and energy has resulted in the decision for the Kinettes to no longer organize the Rubber Duck Race, normally scheduled for the second weekend of May. There will also be no fireworks for sale, organized originally through the K-40 club before the Kinettes took over five years ago, prior to the Victoria Day long weekend.

Life members Joyce Eidt and Michelle Chessell made the announcement recently to let the public know these two community events would not be happening this year.

“We always had good support from the community,” Eidt said.

The hours put in behind the scenes selling 1,000 tickets for the Rubber Duck race is too much for the small club, as there are just eight Kinettes remaining.

The Kinettes are hoping another organization could take over the Rubber Duck race in the future, which has been held for 17 years, and if one is available they help would guide them through the process.

“We don’t want to see it go by the wayside,” Chessell said. “It really is a big town function.”

Both agree it’s a shame that these events, which raised money that went back into the community, are no longer, and readily admit that times have changed. Joyce and husband Bill, and Michelle and husband Steve, both charter members of the Kinsmen, used the service club as their social time.

“Honest to God it was our total life,” Chessell said, saying they did everything together with their daughter and other Kin families. “It was very family oriented.”

Both also said their only holidays were the spring and fall conventions that the Kinsmen and Kinettes hosted in various locations across the province.

“We have had some lifelong friendships that have carried on for years because of Kinsmen and Kinettes,” Chessell said.

“It’s just like everything else….you could write a book,” Eidt said, referring to the fond memories they still possess and the fun they had.

Now more of a social club, the Kinettes still meet monthly and will contribute their remaining funds to worthy causes in the community.

Over the years, the Kinettes raised enough money to build the first food booth (built in 1978) and the first playground at Keterson Park, donated equipment to the Mitchell and now West Perth fire departments (defibrillator, heat imagining), equipment for prenatal care at Stratford General Hospital, donations to fire victims, plus, of course, cystic fibrosis (CF), their national charitable cause. They were also partners with the Kinsmen in Cornfest celebrations every August (which began in 1977) as well as the Beach Party that were held every May (first held in 1988).

The club hosted ladies nights, fashion shows, home tours and blood donor clinics, to name a few examples, to raise their funds – all of which have since bee carried on by other organizations and service groups. They hope the Rubber Duck race is the next one.

Ironically, both Eidt and Chessell were not charter members. At that time, your spouse had to be a Kinsman, and Chessell (nee Robinson) wasn’t yet married and Eidt was expecting her second child, Cindy. Both joined shortly after the club started.

As mentioned, there are just eight current members of the Kinettes: President Kelley Lorentz, Laurie Mogk, Faye Tubb, Loretta Henderson, Tina Brown, Melissa Penner, Chessell and Eidt.